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Established in the nineteenth century as part of the historic co-operative movement, Scotmid has 65 community orientated food stores across Scotland. As one of the country’s biggest employers with over 3300 staff, it is now established as one of the nation’s top 20 companies. From its beginnings, the society has believed in creating a new shopping experience for the people of Scotland while maintaining a strong community focus.
Scotmid has risen to the challenges of the changing retail market by expanding, creating jobs and meeting the needs of communities throughout Scotland. Today the society has over 160 outlets selling quality products ranging from food and household items to health and beauty products through its Semi-Chem stores and it is also one of the largest funeral directors in the country. Scotmid is proud to be part of its country’s history and will continue to develop to ensure it meets the challenges of a new Scotland.
Social unrest and poverty set the scene for a meeting held in July 1859 by a group of Edinburgh workmen, where it was enthusiastically agreed to form a co-operative society. The name of St. Cuthbert’s was probably taken from the parish church of the district where the society was founded, although it has been suggested that the pioneers may have had in mind the legend of St. Cuthbert, the saint whose body defied time and decay.
The first St. Cuthbert’s food store was opened on the 4th November 1859 in Ponton Street, Fountain-bridge, Edinburgh. One of the original members speaking of the opening said: “We opened with considerable spirit and found new relish in our butter, ham and meal in that it was turned over to us from our own shop.
We were all working men, but we began to have the feeling that we were something more.” In 1880 the society moved into prestigious new offices based at 92 Fountainbridge, Edinburgh which remains the head office to this day. Over the coming decades the amalgamation of smaller societies and a policy of expansion saw St. Cuthbert’s grow to become one of the largest independent societies in Britain.
Into the 20th century St. Cuthbert’s developed in size over the years and also widened the scope of its activities to include not only large scale dairy, bakery and butchery operations but also funeral services, tea rooms, carriage works, farming and property letting.
Many historical landmarks were reached by St. Cuthbert’s during the first half of the twentieth century, including the admission of women to the board of management, the institution of employees superannuation scheme, the first trials of self service shops and also the employment, in 1944, of one of Edinburgh’s most famous son’s - Thomas Sean Connery - in the dairy at Fountainbridge. In 1959, it’s centenary year, the society opened the first supermarket in Scotland - situated at Edinburgh’s Leven Street - literally around the corner from the site of the original store in Ponton Street.
Over the years since its inception St. Cuthbert’s had been strengthened by it’s amalgamation with a great many small localised societies, however the most significant merger was to come in January 1981 when it was agreed to join forces with the Dalziel Society of Motherwell, a move which was taken to ensure future growth and extend trading areas. The famous name of St. Cuthbert’s disappeared into history as the new combined Scottish Midland Co-operative Society, Scotmid for short, was formed.
The subsequent years of the 1980s saw numerous other small societies from throughout central Scotland flocking to join the new and exiting Co-op, even in recent years small societies have continued to join forces with Scotmid, the latest being the transfer of the North Tayside, Strathaven and Kilwinning Society in 1998.
Scottish Midland Co-operative Society is owned and democratically controlled by its members, every member has an opportunity to play their part, whether it is by attending members meetings or by being elected to serve on Area Committees, Education Committees and perhaps the Board Of Directors.
True to the democratic principles on which the co-operative movement was founded, Scotmid does not exist for the benefit of a Board Of Directors and expectant share-holders. It exists for the benefit of its members; therefore they are represented on the board.
Its aim is to provide members and customers with the best in quality, service and value by conducting its business with the highest degree of efficiency and integrity. It fully recognises its responsibilities, to provide employment and career opportunities through guidance and training, to promote co-operative ideals and principles wherever and whenever the opportunity arises and to offer support and encouragement to community ventures across its geographic area. By effective management, Scotmid intends to provide employment to secure the future for its members, customers and staff.
With over 60 stores throughout the central belt and east coast of Scotland, Scotmid is at the forefront of community orientated retailing. Each week it promotes a wide selection of offers which represent great value for money and provide local communities with a quality shopping experience.
Scotmid’s food stores vary in size from convenience stores to large purpose built supermarkets and provide a wide range of products, services and facilities for its customers. It has also recently started to provide a range of everyday non-food items ranging from clothes and toys to household electrical items.
In addition to carrying a wide range of grocery products many of the company’s stores now offer a variety of other services and facilities which put them at the heart of local communities, for example in-store post offices, newspapers and magazines, coffee shops, video rental, cash machines, lottery, power cards and mobile phone top ups, paypoint, and cashback.
In addition to well-known household brand names Scotmid food stores stock the full range of Co-op branded products. Produced by the Co-operative Wholesale Society of Manchester, these high quality goods are produced to a strict code of practice regarding many issues which have been prominent in the news over the last couple of years. For some time now all co-op goods have been subject to an honest labelling policy, this means that consumers will never be misled by the content or nutritional value of any co-op product. In addition to this, no co-op branded products are produced using genetically modified ingredients.
Scotmid also takes great pride in stocking a wide selection of organically produced goods including fresh fruit and vegetables, groceries, household products and beverages. Within the co-operative movement it is also proactively stocking and promoting fair trade goods such as coffee, fruit and tea, meaning that the third world farmers who supply these items are paid a fair price for their produce.
Scotmid acquired Dundee based convenience store chain Morning Noon & Night (MN&N) in 2004 in one of the largest retail deals concluded between two Scottish companies. The purchase of Morning Noon & Night is another major expansion leap for the society taking its number of stores in Scotland and Northern Ireland to 265 and it number of staff to over 4600. Morning Noon & Night was founded 12 years ago by Eddie Thompson, who is also chairman and owner of Dundee United. It operates 50 local convenience stores throughout Scotland and the company has over 800 staff, an annual turnover of £53m and operating profits of £1.8m for 2004.
A spokesman for Scotmid said: “This is one of the most significant retail deals concluded in Scotland and will bring the Scotmid name into areas of the country where we did not have a presence. Morning Noon & Night is recognised for its superb community reputation, value for money and friendly professional staff. Their stores will be an excellent fit for the Scotmid operation and without doubt we have purchased an extremely well run, profitable and successful company with funding provided by our relationship bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Corporate Banking, who have supported us throughout the deal process.”
A re-branding operation is underway that will see all MN&N stores change to Scotmid. However, customers will still the see same faces behind their counters and they will also get further added value shopping through the Co-operative product. Last year Scotmid was aggressively proactive in its acquisitions. Its purchase of MN&N, M and S Toiletries, 13 Spar Stores and a Motherwell funeral business were proof of its intentions. Although it will still continue to be acquisitive the next purchases will not be on the same scale as MN&N. Now is the time for consolidation and making Scotmid a household name throughout the whole of Scotland.
Eddie Thompson said: “Selling a company that I built from scratch into a leading grocery chain is one of the hardest decisions I have had to make. However, it has been made easier in the knowledge that Scotmid are recognised as an excellent company. I wanted a deal where I knew that there would be no store closures and that all my staff would be well looked after.”
Scotmid has always been committed to supporting local communities in which it works and trades, whether through small donations to local events such as Gala Days, or sponsoring local projects. One of its most recent community involvements has been the start of kids' Breakfast Clubs at Schools in Midlothian.
Every year Scotmid supports one major charity, voted for by its employees from applications received, this year it is pleased to announce its chosen charity is Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland. Over the years Scotmid has learned how best to work with its charity partners to not only raise much needed funds, but to listen to its employees, team build and have a bit of fun along the way, not forgetting the customers, who without their support, encouragement and generosity none of it would be possible.
By far the most successful of its charities was Macmillan Cancer Research who concluded their partnership with Scotmid in January 2001, by which time it raised over £186,000.
Scotmid was honoured with a Community Service Award at the recent West Lothian Business Excellence Awards, held by the Chamber of Commerce. The award recognises the community investment delivered by the company in their support of the development of an active group of businesses, who have come together to develop the role they can play in supporting the West Lothian community.
Over the years of its involvement, Scotmid has supported a number of health and education initiatives such as the blender scheme for mums from disadvantaged parts of West Lothian, and providing local voluntary organisations with printing, goods for events and fund raising. More recently it has helped develop a ground breaking educational project supporting young children’s understanding of the co-operative movement whilst building their belief in their own capabilities and their understanding of how to run a business.
In 2005, commuters between Edinburgh and Glasgow are getting more than a coach journey to work as Citylink and Scotmid launched an initiative earlier this month to play a part in improving Scotland’s poor health record.
As the Scottish Executive encourages Scots to lead a healthier lifestyle, the leading coach operator has joined forces with Scotmid to provide passengers on its busiest route with a selection of free fruit and healthy snacks. The project is being piloted on a three month basis and if it is successful it could be made permanent. It is trialling on Monday morning services between 6am and 9am from Edinburgh to Glasgow and vice-versa; this service carries over 20,000 customers every week.
The members of Scotmid realise that programmes such as these, which reach out to the local and wider community, go hand in hand with the success of the stores. Nowadays, Scotmid is focusing on its core businesses after the demise of its department stores as a result of being overstretched. This focus and last year’s acquisitions should ensure the success of co-operation in Scotland for years to come. FC
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